WEB EXCLUSIVE: Early deficit ends SK National's tournament

It became their M.O. for the tournament. For their third straight game, the South Kingstown National 11/12-Year Old All-Stars came out and spotted their opponent a big lead in the early innings. Unfortunately, the SK bats went cold after they fell behind early on Tuesday night and they dropped a 9-2 decision to Warwick West Side.
With pitcher Thomaz Whitford ready to go, National manager Peter Podedworny had the tactical decision to make of whether or not to start his ace? Podedworny opted not to start Whitford, choosing rather to keep him fresh for the later innings in hopes the team could keep the game close and use Whitford’s entrance as a way to buoy South in the later innings and put them over the top.
As expected, Whitford did pitch well when came on in the third, giving up just one run, but the rest of the plan did not come to fruition as National was already trailing 8-0 by the time their ace toed the rubber.
“At that point, the way our team was not hitting, it was too much for our team to overcome,” Podedworny said.
Sam White was once again the offensive stud for National, going 3-for-4 in the contest, while Cole Fury, Jason Fera and Zach Moffat also played well. Unfortunately, SK was not able to break into the scoring column until the game’s final inning and by then it was just too late.
“I don’t think we did a good job of hitting against them,” Podedworny said. “[Warwick’s starter] did OK, but we could have done better.”
Combined with their loss to Chariho on Sunday, National’s tournament run came to an end with Tuesday’s loss. While it may not have been the lengthy run the team had hoped for, their manager is still content with how his team performed the past month.
“All around it was a great group of kids to work with,” Podedworny said. “The kids worked hard. They did what we asked. I was happy with the effort the boys gave. We just couldn’t get it done when we needed to.”